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City Ballet The Podcast

Arts & Culture Podcasts

Welcome to City Ballet The Podcast, an exploration of New York City Ballet where we'll journey through our history, delve into our new and existing repertory, and reveal insider tidbits. Each season of City Ballet The Podcast features episodes that span three topics: New Combinations hosted by Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan, Hear the Dance hosted by dance educator and former NYCB dancer Silas Farley, and See the Music hosted by Music Director Andrew Litton.

Welcome to City Ballet The Podcast, an exploration of New York City Ballet where we'll journey through our history, delve into our new and existing repertory, and reveal insider tidbits. Each season of City Ballet The Podcast features episodes that span three topics: New Combinations hosted by Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan, Hear the Dance hosted by dance educator and former NYCB dancer Silas Farley, and See the Music hosted by Music Director Andrew Litton.

Location:

United States

Description:

Welcome to City Ballet The Podcast, an exploration of New York City Ballet where we'll journey through our history, delve into our new and existing repertory, and reveal insider tidbits. Each season of City Ballet The Podcast features episodes that span three topics: New Combinations hosted by Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan, Hear the Dance hosted by dance educator and former NYCB dancer Silas Farley, and See the Music hosted by Music Director Andrew Litton.

Twitter:

@nycballet

Language:

English

Contact:

212-870-4226

Episodes

Episode 67: See the Music: A Midsummer Night's Dream

5/16/2022
In this special episode of See the Music recorded live at our Lincoln Center theater, NYCB Music Director Andrew Litton dives into the history of the Felix Mendelssohn score for Balanchine's enchanted ballet A Midsummer Night's Dream. Litton shares excerpts from the music—written 173 years ago, when Mendelssohn was just 17 years old—that encapsulate the young composer's prodigious talent, even in the face of religious persecution in his native Germany where the score was banned for a time,...

Duration:00:12:44

Episode 66: Hear the Dance: The Four Seasons

5/9/2022
Hear the Dance returns with guest host Jared Angle in conversation with former NYCB Principal Dancer Kyra Nichols. Nichols shares how having a dancer mother (former Company Member Sally Streets) has influenced her career; what it was like enrolling at the School of American Ballet at age 11; and the ways in which what she learned as a performer shapes her current work as a Professor at Indiana University. Her words of wisdom for this spring's dancers in the lead Spring role she originated in...

Duration:00:45:24

Episode 65: See the Music: Orpheus

5/2/2022
Associate Music Director Andrews Sill voyages into the beguiling score of George Balanchine and Igor Stravinsky's Orpheus in the latest See the Music episode. As Stravinsky describes, in a 1949 radio interview, Orpheus is a "long, sustained, slow chant," that utilizes ancient modes and inspirations without directly imitating ancient music. With select excerpts and piano demonstrations, Sills describes Stravinsky's use of a "rare form of kleptomania" to create an undeniably modern yet...

Duration:00:15:58

Episode 64: New Combinations: Silas Farley and David K. Israel

4/25/2022
Host and Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan is back with another New Combinations episode of City Ballet The Podcast. This week she's joined by choreographer, former NYCB dancer, and current Dean of the Colburn School's Trudl Zipper Dance Institute Silas Farley and composer David K. Israel, who are creating a new work for this spring's 50th anniversary Stravinsky Festival. Farley and Israel describe the gift exchange between George Balanchine and Igor Stravinsky that provides the...

Duration:00:38:25

Episode 63: Hear the Dance: Helgi Tomasson (Part 2)

4/19/2022
In Part 2 of this week’s Hear the Dance conversation between host Silas Farley and Helgi Tomasson, the two discuss Tomasson’s career following his entrance into the Company as a Principal Dancer in 1970. As he shares, originating a role in 1971 in Jerome Robbins’ The Goldberg Variations marked a turning point in Tomasson's life; the following year, the original Stravinsky Festival led to two more seminal roles created on the dancer: Balanchine’s Symphony in Three and Divertimento from Le...

Duration:00:37:50

Episode 62: Hear the Dance: Helgi Tomasson (Part 1)

4/19/2022
On this week’s Hear the Dance episode of City Ballet the Podcast, join host Silas Farley for an in-depth conversation with former NYCB Principal Dancer Helgi Tomasson. In Part 1, Tomasson shares his journey from childhood in his native Iceland to joining the Company at age 26. In between, Tomasson auditioned for Jerome Robbins’ Ballet USA, gaining a significant fan in the choreographer; discovered the States while on tour with the Joffrey Ballet; danced for six years with the Harkness...

Duration:00:44:34

Episode 61: New Combinations: Pam Tanowitz

4/11/2022
New Combinations is back with a conversation between host and Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan and choreographer Pam Tanowitz. Wendy catches up with Pam between rehearsals for two works making their debuts on the NYCB stage this spring: a world premiere, and the reprisal of her Gustave le Gray No. 1, to be performed by two guest dancers from Dance Theatre of Harlem as well as dancers from the Company. As Pam tells Wendy, her works are intended to activate and engage the viewer, an...

Duration:00:36:10

Episode 60: The Rosin Box: Something Old, Something New

4/4/2022
What goes on behind the big gold curtain at New York City Ballet? Hosts Claire Kretzschmar and Aarón Sanz take us on a backstage tour for the latest episode of The Rosin Box, catching up with dancers as they primp and prep over two nights of the winter performance period. The behind-the-scenes encounters include Principal Dancer Daniel Ulbricht sharing his journey through the character of the Prodigal Son, and the dancers of Jamar Roberts’ world premiere work Emanon – In Two Movements...

Duration:00:53:26

Episode 59: The Rosin Box: Pianists

3/28/2022
This week’s episode of The Rosin Box finds hosts Claire Kretzschmar and Aarón Sanz in candid conversation with NYCB Solo Pianist Alan Moverman, who shares how he went from childhood piano lessons in Syracuse, NY, to studying jazz piano with the legendary late NPR host Marian McParland, to joining the Company as a rehearsal pianist in 1995. They dig into the three aspects of Moverman’s role—providing music for daily class, accompanying rehearsals, and performing—and the “intimate gift”...

Duration:00:58:19

Episode 58: The Rosin Box: Originating Roles and Keeping them Fresh

3/21/2022
Join us for another cozy conversation around The Rosin Box with hosts Claire Kretzschmar and Aaron Sanz, joined by recently-promoted Soloist Ashley Hod. This week’s episode revolves around the challenges and excitement that come with creating a role in a new ballet, and how revisiting repertory roles over the years with greater experience and knowledge keeps each performance fresh. Hod and Kretzschmar relate some of the unique hurdles—particularly around footwear and the Nutcracker...

Duration:00:43:41

Episode 57: The Rosin Box: Stage Makeup

3/14/2022
Join hosts Claire Kretzschmar and Aarón Sanz for another banter-filled backstage chat around The Rosin Box, opening a fresh season of City Ballet The Podcast. In this episode, they walk us through their personal stage makeup routines and introduce Company Makeup Stylist Neil Scibelli. Neil shares how he came to join the team just in time for The Nutcracker and a little insider info on creating the looks for George Balanchine’s Prodigal Son. (49:37) Edited by Emilie Silvestri Music: Music:...

Duration:00:49:25

Episode 56: Hear the Dance: The Steadfast Tin Soldier

2/21/2022
Host Silas Farley is back with another Hear the Dance episode, devoted to the creation of George Balanchine’s tale of toy romance, The Steadfast Tin Soldier. Farley is joined by former Principal Dancers Patricia McBride and Peter Schaufuss, on whom the ballet was created. The Steadfast Tin Soldier was the first ballet Balanchine made on Schaufuss, who danced with the Company for just three short but very formative years; this marked the second ballet for which Mr. B cast McBride as a doll,...

Duration:01:06:32

Episode 55: See the Music: Swan Lake

2/14/2022
In this episode of See the Music, NYCB Music Director Andrew Litton dives into the history and particular genius of Tchaikovsky’s treasured Swan Lake score. Joined by NYCB Concertmaster Kurt Nikkanen on the violin, Litton demonstrates the use of specific instruments and musical motifs to portray the characters of Odette and her dark opposite, Odile, and reveals what he considers to be the seven greatest measures Tchaikovsky ever composed. (17:17) Originally released February 3,...

Duration:00:16:00

Episode 54: Hear the Dance: Moves (Part 2)

2/10/2022
Our 2-part Hear the Dance exploration of Jerome Robbins’ Moves concludes with three conversations that trace the work’s living legacy. Host Jared Angle speaks with former Soloist Diana White, one of Robbins’ frequent performers who originated a role in Moves; Repertory Director Jean-Pierre Frohlich, who is responsible for coaching Robbins’ works, including Moves, to today's dancers; and Soloist Sebastian Villarini-Velez, who currently dances in Moves with the Company. (1:10:52) Edited by...

Duration:01:10:36

Episode 53: Hear the Dance: Moves (Part 1)

2/7/2022
In a special two-part Hear the Dance episode, Principal Dancer Jared Angle dives deep into the history, context, development, and performance of Jerome Robbins’ masterwork Moves. Part one features a wide-ranging interview with dance historian and Robbins biographer Amanda Vaill, who traces the artistic and personal developments in the choreographer’s life that informed the creation of Moves, and his oeuvre in general. (56:08) Edited by Emilie Silvestri Music Concerto for Violin and...

Duration:00:56:07

Episode 52: New Combinations: Jamar Roberts

1/31/2022
In the lead up to the premiere of his first ballet commissioned for the NYCB stage, choreographer Jamar Roberts joins host Wendy Whelan for the latest New Combinations conversation. From dancing to Mariah Carey after school in Jacksonville, Florida, to moving to NYC and joining Ailey II at 18 years old, to retiring as Resident Choreographer of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater last December, Jamar traces the route that brought him to working with the Company. As he tells Wendy, this...

Duration:00:38:30

Episode 51: Hear the Dance: Mozartiana

1/24/2022
Host Silas Farley opens the latest season of City Ballet The Podcast with a Hear the Dance episode devoted to George Balanchine’s Mozartiana. Choreographed for the 1981 Tschaikovsky Festival, the ballet was a moving representation of Balanchine's admiration not only for the composer, but also for the dancers of the corps de ballet and students of the School of American Ballet. Silas is joined by fellow NYCB alums Jerri Kumery, one of the original four “tall" dancers in the Minuet movement,...

Duration:01:24:10

Episode 50: The Rosin Box: The Nutcracker

12/20/2021
Hosts Claire Kretzschmar and Aarón Sanz are back with a very special holiday edition of The Rosin Box. In an intimate tour of the bustling backstage spaces before, during, and after a performance of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker®, Claire and Aarón reveal what it takes to make this magical production come to life. From the necessary comforts of a dressing room “moon pod,” to the challenges of make-up and updo changes for dancers performing multiple roles, to the meditations and...

Duration:00:51:11

Episode 49: The Rosin Box: Growth within NYCB

11/29/2021
In the latest installment of The Rosin Box, hosts and Soloists Claire Kretzschmar and Aarón Sanz are joined by Judy Elliott-Pugh, NYCB’s Senior Director of Human Resources, Diversity, and Inclusion, for a conversation about her newly-created position. From day-to-day operations to ongoing and broadly-reaching projects and goals, they discuss the ways in which NYCB is an organization of people from a wide variety of backgrounds, in just as wide an array of roles, all working together to make...

Duration:00:48:00

Episode 48: The Rosin Box: International Artists

11/22/2021
This week on the Rosin Box, hosts Claire Kretzschmar and Aarón Sanz explore the unique experiences of Company dancers originally trained in other countries. They’re joined by retiring Principal Dancer Gonzalo Garcia and still new-to-NYCB Soloist Chun Wai Chan for a wide-ranging conversation that covers everything from moving to the states, first introductions to Balanchine, adjusting to the Company culture, learning to drive, and the ways in which ballet is a universal language....

Duration:00:56:34

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